After road testing, the cleaning and relubing has made a big
difference. It's hard to believe that it would make such a difference
in how the gears engage, but it did. The polyurethane (I think that's
the material, it is slightly soft) bushings are NLA, but Terry Kay
sells delrin replacements that do not have the spaces/grooves inside
that hold grease (and dirt).
I bet Terry's bushings work well.

Finding, or making, rubber boots that cover the rear bushing would be
great. They are shown In ekta (diagram I posted on my blog entry). I
wonder if they were an option on the "bad road package" or on the 16"
syncro. That and the shift rod protection tube would go a long way in
keeping the linkage clean.

I have noticed slush collecting and freezing on the shift linkage
making shifting really hard.

Oh, one more thing, the ball and cup linkage (right at the trans.) was
in good shape on my van. The boot there was intact and the grease in
the cup was almost pristine. I have worked on a van where that boot
was missing and the cup was filled with grit and dried grease. The
assembly was worn out and the owner bought a new set from Van Cafe.

And one more "one more thing", pull off the box above the spare tire
(4 10mm nuts) and check the condition of the plastic tabs on the ears
of the fork at front of linkage. The plastic tabs can be worn out or
broken. There is a thread on the samba right now about fixing that.

good luck

alistait

On 25-May-11, at 8:06 AM, Roland wrote:

> Thank Alistair for the timely report.  This is on my list of things
> to do,
> shifting feels just a bit crunchy sometimes as if some dirt got into
> the
> various places.  This will really help when I get around to it.
>
> Roland